


if I should return

by ashinan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Kisses, M/M, Reunion Fic, Season 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashinan/pseuds/ashinan
Summary: Keith's been gathering information since Shiro's disappearance. A chance encounter brings that quest to an end.





	if I should return

**Author's Note:**

> after season 3 concluded I just couldn't _not_ write cute schmoopy reunion fic okay I am so weak for this pairing and it shows no sign of stopping. if you haven't seen the latest season, there are some spoilers in this fic itself. if you're looking for a song, please listen to [You Are Quietly Disappearing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4unDeT9G8gc) by Owsey. the title slays me.

The smoke cleared, wisps of it floating up to the ceiling. Keith wiped at his forehead, soot smearing over his cheek and forehead. His blade reverted. Beyond him, sentries sprawled, spewing electricity and cracking bits of metal.

“This floor is cleared,” Keith said. “Moving on to the next floor. Pidge?”

“Looks good from my end. You should have a straight shot to the next area without too many enemies.” Beneath Pidge’s explanation was the quiet beep of data being transferred. “You sure about this?”

“No,” Keith said as he jogged to the door, slapping his hand against it.

Another quiet beep as Pidge sighed. “Yeah, figured. Lance’s been keeping me appraised: looks like Shiro has bought into the whole training exercise thing.”

“That’s not Shiro.” Keith shoved open the next door, glancing both ways. He pushed left, listening, fingers itching for the blade at his hip.

“What do you want me to call him then? ‘Fake Shiro’? We gotta come up with something interesting or our Shiro will never forgive us once we find him.”

Keith didn’t bother responding. The clatter of sentries footsteps reached him seconds before he pushed into an overhang. Pidge’s quiet breathing kept him company as Keith waited, tapping his fingers against the wall until they’d marched by. He ducked back into the hallway, following Pidge’s quiet instruction until she led him to a large door.

“If you head through here, that should get us the main data banks. Pop in that neat little device I gave you and we should have a bit more info.” A gentle  _ding!_  chimed over the comms. “I’m done on my end. I’ll rendezvous with you at Green.”

“Gotcha.”

Pidge signed off. Keith edged his way toward the door, palm sliding over the handlock on the side. It opened with a quiet  _whoosh_ , and Keith slipped inside.

Directly into the path of eight sentries.

With the element of surprise destroyed, Keith recovered just enough to dodge the first of the sentries blasts. He went in low and hard, bayard slashing through two sentries as he slammed the blade into the chest of another, using the momentum to launch himself up and over. The sentries behind decimated their companion in a bid for Keith, blaster fire ricocheting about the room as Keith ducked. He wasn’t all lucky, wasn’t perfect in his movements; a sentry whirled at the wrong moment, brought up its blaster at exactly the right time, and clipped Keith right along his visor. The helmet jerked hard, Keith’s head snapping back with it before it became dislodged. When he blinked dazed dots from his eyes, the sentry stood above him.

Two others stood behind. Keith gripped his bayard. His helmet was behind him, lost in the debris of the other sentries. As the sentry levelled its gun at Keith’s head, he lashed out.

The blaster sliced neatly in two, sparks dancing along Keith’s blade as he shoved to his feet and under the sentry’s defense. The other two fired, beams cutting through the sentry and nicking Keith’s shoulder. He hissed, shoving the sentry at the other and decapitated the third. As the last sentry fell to Keith’s blade he squeezed his eyes shut against the electric smoke clogging the room, hanging in the air and tickling his throat. He breathed out. Coughed sharply on the inhale. Swayed slightly when he opened his eyes.

Behind him, the door  _whooshed_  open.

Keith spun, blade up and shield activating on his arm.

“Oh,” Shiro said, soft, as he leaned against the far door.

Keith froze, his bayard immediately disappearing as he stared. That was - that -  _“Shiro?”_

Chuckling, Shiro leaned his temple against the door, waving a hand. “I hope so.”

The first step forward was the most difficult, Keith’s limbs shivering with uncertainty. Shiro pushed away from the frame. Hair a bit longer, eyes a bit more tired, blood smeared over one cheek and ear. The haze in the room muddied Shiro’s form, smeared over the cracked lines of his paladin armour and torn fabric of his suit. He’d lost his helmet.

Another step and Keith pushed into a jog, into a run, his uncertainty bleeding away with every step. Shiro caught him, full tilt as Keith barrelled into him. They rocked in place, nearly fell, until Keith braced his hands on Shiro’s back.

_Shiro._

“It’s you,” Shiro said, reaching up and brushing a shaking thumb against Keith’s cheek. Blood smeared through the soot as Keith stared up at him, as his lips parted on a trembling plea, and Shiro dropped their foreheads together with a sigh. “Oh, Keith, it’s  _you_.”

Clutching trembling hands at Shiro’s chest, at the armour dented and scratched, at Shiro’s sides and arms, Keith fought for breath. This - this wasn’t - this - “Shiro? Shiro, please, please say it’s you, please,  _please_.”

Rolling his forehead against Keith’s, Shiro smiled. It was  _right_ , small and perfect and coveted. “I knew you’d find me.”

“How?” Keith asked. He reached up, fingers gentle against the edge of Shiro’s jaw. It was such a small thing, the edge of his thumb travelling from Shiro’s trembling chin to beneath his ear. Touches, small and easy, that Shiro leaned into; that Shiro closed his eyes against, sagging.

“I don’t know,” Shiro whispered. “I don’t know. How are you here? Keith?”

It was too much, the quiet cadence of his voice, the lilt on the edge of Keith’s name, the way his exhaustion shivered through him. Cupping Shiro’s jaw, Keith drew him down until their lips hovered. Uncertainty flicked, hot and fast, through his chest as he drew his gaze over Shiro’s face.  _His_  Shiro.

The kiss was tinged with that uncertainty, with that half step backwards. The soft sigh Shiro gave, his palms sliding down Keith’s sides before wrapping around him tight, dispelled it immediately. Keith gasped, fingers jerking against Shiro’s jaw before he pushed into the kiss, harder, desperation roaring in his blood. It ballooned out, caught the rough edges of his despair and smeared them into oblivion.

Shiro laughed, quiet and aborted until Keith kissed him quiet. Disbelief twisted with joy dashed into need. Familiarity tingled over his lips. They pushed and shoved at each other, Shiro’s fingers digging into the wings of Keith’s shoulders, Keith scraping nails over the back of Shiro’s neck.

“Keith,” Shiro breathed, pulling back enough to roll their foreheads together, noses bumping. Keith tugged at him again, peppered kisses over the scar on his nose, the cut of his cheek, the dusty brush of his eyelashes. Gently made his way back to the bow of Shiro’s mouth, lips lingering as he closed his eyes.

When Shiro’s lips moved against Keith’s, it wasn’t in a kiss but another quiet whisper of his name. Keith shook his head, kissing him to silence the obvious direction Shiro was about to go. If they remained here, in this building filled with destroyed sentries; if they remained here, tangled in each other and held still in a bubble of their own making, Keith wouldn’t have to remember.

The universe could go fuck itself, really.

“We need to go,” Shiro said, drawing his thumb over Keith’s cheek, pulling them apart enough that Keith immediately resented the distance. “We have to get back to everyone. What were you looking for here?”

“Information,” Keith said. He tugged until Shiro snickered, allowed Keith to drag them close once more. Thigh to shoulder to  _lips_ , Keith sliding his hands into Shiro’s hair and down over his shoulders, the broken armour catching on the palm of his hand. “Not important information.”

“That’s a lie.” Shiro pulled back. That smile remained, soft and pleased, right.

Keith breathed out. “It’s not as important as you. What were you here for?”

Shiro ducked his head at Keith’s assurance. “The databanks here contain information on the comings and goings of this quadrant. I was hoping that if Voltron had been flying through, I could hitch a ride to a planet with a comm and get back to you all.”

Smart. Amazing, really. Keith caught Shiro’s waist, dug his thumbs into the space just beneath Shiro’s ribs, memorized the movement of Shiro’s chest for later. Leaving was priority. Leaving meant remembering, meant confrontation, meant destroying this peace they’d crafted with their reunion.

“You found us. You found  _me_.” Keith leaned up to taste Shiro’s true smile once again, addicted in the best way. Shiro indulged him, trading slow, decadent kisses until Keith was dizzy.

When they parted, Shiro dropped his forehead to Keith’s shoulder. “Home?”

“Yeah, let’s get you back,” Keith said, swallowing.

They had a lot to talk about.

**Author's Note:**

> please come follow me on [tumblr](https://ashinan.tumblr.com) where I've become an unapologetic sheith blog interspersed with quiet crying


End file.
